Opportunity to study at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (B@UNAM)

The Centre for Latin American and the Caribbean Studies (CLACS) has the pleasure to announce the following opportunity to study at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (B@UNAM). Calls are open for the 2018 Baccalaureate Distance Learning (Matric) Program from 19 February to 11 March 2018 for Spanish speaking students interested in distance education in the B@UNAM Program. Please see the following link containing more information www.bunam.unam.mx

Iran: Is it really the leading state-sponsor of terrorism?

Charges of sponsoring terrorism have surrounded Iran from the earliest days of the Islamic revolution (1979) to the present. The United States (US), along with the rest of the West have repeatedly stated that Iran is the principal state sponsor of terrorism, providing a wide array of weaponry funds, safe harbour and logistical support to Shi’ite and occasionally Sunni terrorist groups (this paper will solely focus on Hamas and Hezbollah).

State of Africa, 2017

According to African Economic Outlook (AEO), although front pages of print media and TV breaking news on Africa, continue to be about i) state capture and corruption; ii) endemic poverty and rising unemployment of despondent youth; iii) bad governance and election malpractices; iv) the rise of rebellions and the proliferation of small arms; and v) massive deaths resulting from terrorism and violent extremism; in 2017 Africa maintained steady advances in trade and regional integration.

Report: China – Africa: High time for a common integrated African policy on China

The Institute for Global Dialogue, in partnership with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) and the Wits Africa- China Reporting Project (ACRP) held a one-day symposium at the University of the Witwatersrand on 20th July 2017, on the theme China – Africa: high time for a common integrated African policy on China.

by Wayne Jumat, Arina Muresan. Edited by Philani Mthembu. Designed by Kenny Dlamini

This symposium, focusing on BRICS in Africa, took place on 3 July 2017, in Johannesburg at the South African BRICS Think Tank (SABTT), which is hosted by the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS).

The symposium was an informative and strategic multi-stakeholder discussion that sought to address the topic of situating the future of BRICS in changing global dynamics with a closer focus on BRICS in Africa in relation to trade and development finance, BRICS soft power dynamics and where South Africa fits into this outlook and how it is able to leverage its position. As BRICS countries, such as China, through the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), and India, through the India-Africa Summits (IAS) intensify their engagement on the African continent, the symposium looked into the role of the BRICS countries in Africa, especially given the potential of the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) and its Africa Regional Centre (ARC) in Johannesburg. This event thus explored how South Africa uses its position within the BRICS to promote its African agenda and the BRICS engagement in Africa.

According to African Economic Outlook (AEO), although front pages of print media and TV breaking news on Africa, continue to be about i) state capture and corruption; ii) endemic poverty and rising unemployment of despondent youth; iii) bad governance and election malpractices; iv) the rise of rebellions and the proliferation of small arms; and v) massive deaths resulting from terrorism and violent extremism; in 2017 Africa maintained steady advances in trade and regional integration.

Charges of sponsoring terrorism have surrounded Iran from the earliest days of the Islamic revolution (1979) to the present. The United States (US), along with the rest of the West have repeatedly stated that Iran is the principal state sponsor of terrorism, providing a wide array of weaponry funds, safe harbour and logistical support to Shi’ite and occasionally Sunni terrorist groups (this paper will solely focus on Hamas and Hezbollah). In some cases, it is also claimed that Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) directly perpetrate acts of terrorism (Stearns 2012). Essentially, among analysts and academics it is commonly argued that Iran utilises ‘terrorism’ to pursue its foreign policy objectives.

The Institute for Global Dialogue, in partnership with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) and the Wits Africa- China Reporting Project (ACRP) held a one-day symposium at the University of the Witwatersrand on 20th July 2017, on the theme China – Africa: high time for a common integrated African policy on China.

South Africa hosted the Johannesburg Summit and sixth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China and Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in December 2015. The event marked a decade and a half since the initiation of the FOCAC mechanism in 2000 and nearly a decade since the Beijing Summit of 2006. South Africa and China are the current co-chairs of the Forum for the period 2015-2018. South Africa seeks to consolidate the strategic Africa-China relationship often framed as a win-win relationship between Africa, the continent with the largest number of developing countries and China, the largest developing nation.

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